title: Anatomy of an urban waterbody: a case study of Boston's Muddy River.
abstract: The objective of this study was to characterize and understand the water quality of Boston's Muddy River prior to restoration, to help guide those activities and evaluate their success. We use a combination of monitoring, data analysis and mathematical modeling. The seasonal pattern of temperature, pollutant signatures (identified using a principal component analysis), correlations with precipitation and spatial patterns all point to a significant wastewater input at one of the outfalls and suggest significant receiving water impact. However, a quantitative analysis using a mathematical model (QUAL2K) suggests this source is not significant. Rather, internal loading from algae, sediment bed and waterfowl dominate the spatial pattern of water quality. These results suggest significant improvement can be expected from planned sediment dredging. The paper provides a case study of water quality assessment in the context of urban river restoration, and it illustrates the utility of combining monitoring and data analysis with modeling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mathew
authors.forename: Yifu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Yixing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Khyati
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shodhan
authors.forename: Indrani
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Vanni
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bucci
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leitao
authors.forename: Danson
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Njoka
authors.forename: Irvine
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Ferdi L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Hellweger
mesh_terms: D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D001900:Boston; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D058086:Microalgae / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology; D012621:Seasons; D014872:Water Movements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014887:Weather
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D010758:Phosphorus; D010100:Oxygen